Page 18 of Where Quiet Hearts Scream
Watching Serafina walk away, after she’s given me all the information I need, feels less like triumph and more like a strange vacuum has appeared in the base of my stomach. That hour went fast.
Too fast.
I wanted her to sit with me for longer. Not because I need the intel, but because Ilikeher. I like her a lot more than I expected to. Not just because she’s the epitome of all my teenage wet dreams, but because she’s sweet and… deep. I don’t mean deep in a philosophical kind of way. She’s deep in the sense I feel like she has a multitude of layers to peel back, jewels to uncover. I’ve barely gotten started and already it’s time to leave.
I have to force myself to throw a mental high five,because it’s done. I got the intel I needed, even though I feel fucking flat.
It’s no secret that Cristiano Di Santo is planning to get married at this hotel in this part of the Hamptons. Enough additional security has been laid on in the local area to draw even more attention and whispered rumors. But I needed to know exactly where the bridal party will be and exactly the role my brother will be playing.
He’s the best man.
Fuck.
He really has worked his way into the heart of the New York Italian Mafia.
I add this new information to my mental library where it joins intel on how the Di Santo’s operate—which reminds me I need to arrange for that kid Federico to get onto the property. That was his reward for dishing the dirt on the way the Di Santo’s treated his father. He has a thing for one of the sisters it seems, and is prepared to bulldoze the wedding prep to stake his claim. Thinks he’s mafia material but he’s just a kid. And I know my brother will put him in his place.
A small kernel of apprehension sits at the base of my spine though. The rumors about this wedding have been loud enough to reach the ears of the Marchesi’s, the Di Santos’ biggest rival.
When “Fury” Marchesi himself told me about the drug bust my own brother orchestrated, putting the Marchesi’s millions out of pocket, I had to wonder if they wouldn’t pick the wedding as their moment to retaliate. All the more reason for me to be here. Iwouldn’t mind putting some bullets in those asshole brothers.
I’ve cozied up to them enough to get the detail I need on Connecticut, and now it’s time to pull it from under them. By the time the wedding comes around, they are going to be pissed and desperate.
An image of Serafina walking back inside the hotel pokes at the sensation that I’ve lost something I’m going to regret. I shove it to the very archives of my mind, throw down a fifty tip and head back the same way. I need to get some air and it feels too stifling on the terrace.
I walk back through the lobby and out to the front of the hotel. I hear voices to the left, just out of sight, so I change direction and head toward the beach. I have to make some calls and I can’t risk anyone listening in.
The voices of two men recede into the breeze but a third makes me stop. It’s a woman’s voice, faint but unmistakeable. And there’s a definite note of nervousness to it. I edge toward the source and hover just out of sight behind a wall.
Up close and clearer, the first thing I hear is her name.
“You’re Serafina Castellano, right?”
“Who’s asking?” she says, faintly.
“Oh, don’t be worried. Everyone around these parts knows who you are.” A sordid chuckle leaves the man’s throat. “We just want to talk to you, alright?”
The sound of feet shuffling across the gravel puts me on high alert.
“I don’t know you. I’m really sorry. I have to go.”
“No, wait… Just one minute, seriously. That’s all we need.”
Anger infuses my blood. Fromnowhere.
“Fine. One minute.” Her voice trembles. “But only if you let go of my arm.”
What. The fuck?
I inch round the wall until I can see the two scrawny assholes. The one being deliberately intimidating has the good sense to step back and release her.
“We just want an introduction to your new brother.”
Serafina’s skin pales, illuminating her piercing blue eyes.
“We run a small waste disposal business, see? It’s upstate—further north than Di Santo territory—but we’d like to work with your brother and his men. We want an alliance…”
“I’m sorry,” Serafina says, backing up. “He’s not my brother and I have no influence over his decisions or his men. I’m not involved in any of that.”
